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Wheat farmers chase money from Iraq

Farmer Colin Nicholl, from Hyden in Western Australia, is owed thousands of dollars for wheat sales to Iraq in the 1980s.

WA Farmers Federation

Some wheat farmers are calling on the Australian Government to step in and pay out farmers who are still owed money for sales to Iraq in the 1980s.

Iraq defaulted on a debt to the Australian Wheat Board due to the first Gulf War and trade sanctions in 1990, leaving 49,000 Australian farmers out of pocket.

About 80 per cent of the $480 million debt was recouped through the Australian Government's Export Finance Insurance Corporation, but millions of dollars were left owing.

A meeting of international governments, known as the Paris Club, agreed in 2004 to cancel some of the debt owed to Australian wheat growers and set a repayment plan for US$50 million.

The first instalment was paid last year, with growers with smaller entitlements being completely paid out.

Other growers received another instalment this week and are expected to continue receive instalments through until 2028.

"It is, I guess, better to get some of the money, rather than none of the money, but we've been very badly short-changed here," said wheat farmer Colin Nicholl, from Hyden in Western Australia.

Mr Nicholl is owed tens of thousands of dollars. Under the payment schedule that's been worked out, he says, he'll only get just 25 per cent of the value of the money had it been paid when it was due.

He doesn't blame Iraq for the delay in repayments.

"It's not as though we are collecting it now, there's no interest being accrued on that money.

"Already, a lot of those farmers that are entitled to that money have left the industry and I understand a lot of them haven't been traced.

"A lot of that money is going to end up back in the unclaimed money section in government coffers and I don't believe that is correct. There should be a greater attempt to return that money to the growers that it's owed to."

Mr Nicholl wants the Federal Government to intervene in the process and pay out growers now, and collect money from Iraq later.

"It is important that the government do show us some respect and that the government endeavours to get involved here and pay us out, because this is one of the biggest injustices that wheat growers have had certainly in modern times.

"We need the money now, not in 14 years' time. That's almost an insult to us.

"There will be a lot of farmers that are owed that money that won't be around in 14 years' time."

Mr Nicholl says it makes more sense for accountancy firm Ferrier Hodgson, which has been tasked with distributing the funds to farmers, to pay the money into a government account, rather than paying into the accounts of thousands of farmers.

Ferrier Hodgson partner Greg Meredith says just over half of the eligible growers have come forward to register to receive payments, with 24,000 growers still unaccounted for.

"It's a very unusual program. I'm not aware of a program like this in Australia, where money from such long outstanding debts, over 20 years old, being compromised through payments to such a large number of creditors over such a long period of time."